CMS Announces State Medicaid Grants
CMS on Tuesday announced that $150 million in grant money will be available to states in 2007 and 2008 for them to design programs intended to improve the quality and efficacy of their Medicaid programs, CQ HealthBeat reports. CMS in a press release said that states could use the money to develop programs that would reduce medical errors, promote generic drugs, improve fraud detection and invest in higher quality care, for example. States must apply for these grants by August 15.
CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said that by "[w]orking together with the states, we've identified many ways in which Medicaid coverage can be provided more effectively, keeping costs down, while providing needed coverage for more people" (CQ HealthBeat, 7/25).